Ways of infecting cats with worms
Parasites constantly circulate in the environment; larvae and eggs are found in soil, water, dust, in any corner of the territory, regardless of its sanitary conditions. Signs of worms are detected in cats that never go outside; they “receive” helminths in utero or the larvae enter the house on shoes.
The risk of invasion increases with:
- the presence of raw foods (fish, meat) in the diet;
- skin parasites (ticks, fleas);
- contact with infected animals;
- free range.
A cat passes worms to its offspring in utero, so it is important to give deworming tablets for cats before mating.
Harm from worms
Worms in a domestic cat negatively affect its health, damaging internal organs. In severe cases, with extensive infection, deformities are possible, leading to death.
What is the harm from worms:
- Mechanical damage.
Injuries to the internal mucous membranes are caused by fixation devices - teeth, hooks, spikes. When parasites migrate, the integrity of organs and tissues is disrupted, and areas of bleeding are formed. Obstruction (blockage) of the intestines and large arteries by balls of worms is dangerous.
- Intoxication.
Signs of general poisoning of the body increase with the increase in the number of worms. Intoxication is caused by tissue breakdown products and the decomposition of dead helminths themselves.
- Complications from secondary infections.
Worms reduce the animal’s immunity, so viral and bacterial infections easily penetrate the body, complicating the course of helminthiasis. Worms contribute to the exacerbation of chronic pathologies; microtraumas on the mucous membranes become gateways for the penetration of bacteria.
Methods for treating helminthiases
Despite the fact that helminthiasis is a common occurrence, it cannot be treated as something normal.
Worm infestation is a serious problem for the body, in some cases it can even lead to death. Worms cannot be tolerated. Infection with worms must be prevented, and if it occurs, the worms must be removed. To treat helminthiases, courses of special medications are prescribed.
If you suspect a worm infection, you should consult a therapist, and if you are talking about a child, a pediatrician or family doctor. In some cases, the doctor may recommend that the whole family take anthelmintic medications.
Pediatricians, family doctors and therapists at Family Doctor have extensive experience in identifying and treating various helminthiases. It is worth remembering that getting rid of parasites is a serious increase in our health!
Deworming
The procedure for removing worms from the body is called deworming
.
Along with anthelmintic drugs, the course of treatment usually includes drugs that help remove and bind toxic substances produced by worms, as well as antiallergic drugs.
Make an appointment Do not self-medicate. Contact our specialists who will correctly diagnose and prescribe treatment.
Rate how useful the material was
thank you for rating
Where are helminths located?
Symptoms of worms in cats depend on the location. In an animal's body, parasites can be found in any tissue, organ or circulatory system.
- Specific localization.
Parasites of certain species live in clearly defined places. Making a diagnosis with a specific localization is easier than with the “random” movement of worms in the body. Habitats: gastrointestinal tract, liver, biliary tract, heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, bladder, eyes.
- Perverted (non-specific).
The parasite is located in an unusual location, causing atypical symptoms of the disease, which makes diagnosis difficult. Most often, perverted localization is observed in liver flukes and roundworms (Toxocara, Ascaris).
- Transit.
Eggs and larvae of helminths pass through the body without affecting it and without staying for a long time. They are accidentally found during the examination of feces, a complete examination of the animal. There are no clinical symptoms of worms inside the cat.
Methods for diagnosing helminthiasis
Since the symptoms of helminthiasis coincide with the signs of many other diseases, before prescribing treatment, it is necessary to make sure that worms are actually present in the body. For this purpose, various laboratory diagnostic methods are used.
Analysis of stool for worm eggs
If a helminthic infestation is suspected, the first step is to perform a stool test for worm eggs. To be more confident in the absence of worms, it is recommended to do such an analysis several times (a negative result in the case of a single analysis does not guarantee that there are no worms). However, enterobiasis cannot be detected using stool analysis.
More information about the diagnostic method
Scraping for enterobiasis
Scraping for enterobiasis allows you to identify pinworm infection.
Serological blood test
In difficult situations, additional tests are possible, in particular, a serological blood test for the presence of antigens and antibodies to a particular type of parasite.
More information about the diagnostic method
Sign up for diagnostics To accurately diagnose the disease, make an appointment with specialists from the Family Doctor network.
Types of worms in cats
Signs of helminthic infestation can be pronounced (vomiting, cough, chronic diarrhea) or latent, occurring with lethargy and apathy. Symptoms depend on the types of worms, divided by shape, method of feeding, and reproduction.
Roundworms
Roundworms are the most common inhabitants of the cat's body. They are white, slightly yellowish in color, up to 10 cm long, reminiscent of thin wire, or spaghetti with tapering at the ends. With a high degree of infestation, worms come from the throat (vomiting) or are found in feces during a routine examination. In kittens, roundworms cause an excessive appetite; visually the pet is very thin, but with a voluminous tummy. In adults, chronic diarrhea, anorexia, lethargy, and apathy are suspected of ascariasis.
In the human body they do not go through a full development cycle, but they reduce immunity and cause an allergic reaction.
Hookworms live in the intestines; larvae and adults feed on blood. Infection of an animal occurs in utero, through food, skin. They enter the human body through the skin, causing skin diseases.
In cats, hookworm infection causes bloody diarrhea, thirst, barking cough, anorexia and lethargy.
Toxocara are long, roundworms reaching 18 cm. Favorite localization sites are the esophagus, liver, gall bladder, and intestines. Kittens are infected in utero, through food; toxocara is transmitted to adult cats through the mouth. Parasitic infestation is accompanied by vomiting, severe exhaustion, and chronic diarrhea. For kittens, mass infection by sexually mature individuals leads to intestinal blockage and rupture.
Tapeworms (flatworms)
Tapeworms parasitize the small intestine, attaching to the walls with the help of the scolex (suction cups, chitinous hooks). A body composed of many segments in which larvae mature. As the segments mature, they break off, come out with feces, and the eggs infect the external environment.
- Cucumber tapeworm.
Difficult to hatch, feels comfortable in cats and humans (reaches up to 1.5 m). In the intestines, it attaches to the wall with the help of hooks, damaging the mucous membrane and feeding at the expense of the body. Carriers of tapeworm are lice eaters and fleas.
- Wide tape.
In a cat’s body it grows up to 1.5 m, in a person – up to 12 meters. This is the largest specimen of any tapeworm. The source of wide tapeworm is raw river fish and small freshwater crustaceans.
- Flukes.
Parasites that destroy the internal organs of cats and humans. They range in length from a few millimeters to 1.5 m. The worms are sucked in using “toothed” suction cups arranged in several rows. They destroy the liver, bladder, intestines, lungs, and are often found in the Eustachian tube and conjunctival sac. A cat becomes infected by eating raw freshwater fish.
- Liver fluke.
Affects the liver, pancreas, and gall bladder. Lungworms are introduced into a cat’s body when it accidentally ingests crustaceans and freshwater mollusks. Parasites provoke cysts in the lungs, gradually destroying the lung tissue. Dangerous for humans.
The smallest parasites are cestodes (tapeworms), reach a length from 5 mm to 1.5 m, the body is flat, chitinous hooks or suckers are located on the head. The body is segmented, eggs mature in each segment. The source of cestodes is rodents (mice, rats). The parasite is dangerous for humans; the disease ends in a malignant neoplasm of the liver with metastasis throughout the body. Cats can carry the infection within them for years without clinical signs of cestodosis.
Trematodes (liver flukes)
A rather specific group of helminths, representatives of which are found (mainly) in liver tissue and even in the gall bladder. However, there are species of trematodes that parasitize even in the stomach of humans and animals (but this is “exotic”, rarely encountered in everyday practice.
A characteristic feature of these parasites is the presence of powerful suckers (usually two, sometimes three or even more) on their body. This is due to the need to keep the body of the worm in the bile ducts.
Another feature of trematodes is their “moderate” size: the body length of adult individuals rarely exceeds three or four centimeters. Of course, there are species that parasitize the body of cetaceans. They can grow to a size of one and a half meters or more, but this is not our case.
Finally, infection with liver flukes, unlike all the cases described above, almost 100% leads to a pronounced response from the digestive system. The reason is simple - when all the bile ducts and even the gallbladder itself are literally clogged with the bodies of parasites, the outflow of bile is difficult; it either does not enter the lumen of the small intestine, or it does, but in too small quantities. The consequence of this is impaired lipid digestion, frequent diarrhea, etc.
Liver fluke
In fact, such a parasite does not exist, since it is a combined name for all parasitic flukes that parasitize the liver. In fact, the most common “liver fluke” found everywhere in cats is opisthorchid.
The reason is the same as in the case of diphylbothriasis described above. This trematode needs an intermediate host (more precisely, two), in the form of a fish. Considering that cats do not boil or fry delicious fish before dinner, it is not surprising that opisthorchiasis is widespread in areas of large rivers and other bodies of water.
The parasite is quite small (no more than 1.5 cm for males and 3 cm for females), but the intensity of the invasion is often high. Simply put, with this pathology, the cat’s liver usually contains more than a dozen parasites, which is not beneficial to the animal’s health.
Worms: clinical signs
Does the cat have worms? The severity of symptoms depends on the type of helminth, its location, size, number of parasitic individuals, the age of the animal and its state of health.
Common symptoms of helminthic infestation include:
- depression, appetite distortion or anorexia;
- bad coat, heavy shedding;
- dried crusts in the corners of the eyes without inflammation;
- disruption of the gastrointestinal tract (constipation, diarrhea, vomiting);
- intestinal obstruction;
- swollen, barrel-shaped belly;
- anemia, a sharp decrease in immunity;
There may be blood in the stool, kittens are stunted, and convulsions may occur during intoxication. Whole mature worms, sometimes segments, and often fragments of cucumber tapeworm come out of the anus and “hang on the fur” are found in feces or vomit.
What do worm eggs look like?
Let's say you find something that looks like worms in your pet's stool, what should you do next? First, you need to understand what you see. Fecal matter may contain live and dead parasites, their eggs, incompletely digested food, and inedible objects that the cat swallowed accidentally or intentionally.
The range of parasites that a cat can become infected with amounts to hundreds of species. Each parasite belongs to a specific family, subfamily or species. Each type of worm has similar features: color, length, body shape, shape and color of eggs. First, let's figure out what worm eggs look like, which you can distinguish visually.
White round spots in stool - what is it?
Almost all worms that parasitize the body of cats are very modest in size and have microscopic eggs that are invisible to the human eye. The exception is tapeworms, which are also called tapeworms and tapeworms.
The body of these parasites consists of:
- Heads with oral apparatus, several rows of hooks and/or suckers.
- Segments (segments) that form a long body.
- This is incredible! Depending on the type of worm, its body can consist of 4–200 segments. Each segment is a vessel for 1–800 eggs, which must be released into the external environment.
The most common tapeworm that affects cats is the cucumber tapeworm (often called borage). Parasite eggs can be identified by visual signs:
- Round with slightly pointed tips, similar to sesame or cucumber seeds.
- White, slightly transparent.
- The main distinguishing feature is that the eggs move and move due to the flat muscles of the segment.
Tapeworm eggs are most often found:
- In feces.
- On the pet's bedding.
- On the fur around the anus.
The life cycle of borage has its own peculiarities. Each worm is hermaphrodite, meaning it reproduces and fertilizes its own eggs. The egg, released into the external environment, begins to move to find a temporary carrier. The egg is eaten by a flea (flea eater), which becomes a vessel for the maturation of the egg.
When the parasite is ready to molt, it hibernates and waits for the right conditions. A flea living on a cat gets caught in the pet's teeth when it tries to relieve the itching. The swallowed flea is digested, and the egg sheds as soon as it enters the intestines.
Once in a suitable habitat, the head of the parasite is implanted into the intestinal mucosa, in other words, it digs into it with hooks and begins to drink blood. Within 30–40 days, the worm matures and becomes sexually mature. Afterwards, the helminth begins to form segments, each of which contains a fertilized egg. The last segment (the tail of the worm) breaks off and comes out with the feces as soon as the egg is ready to “move” into the body of a temporary carrier.
How to treat worms in cats?
Therapy consists of the destruction of adults and larvae, symptomatic treatment, and elimination of intoxication. Anti-worm medications are available in the form of a suspension, tablets (Milbemax), paste (Dirofen), and drops on the withers.
Cats are not given medications for humans; medications are purchased at a veterinary pharmacy after the doctor makes a diagnosis and gives the appropriate prescriptions.
Rules for giving deworming medications to cats:
- Once, in the morning on an empty stomach.
- Repeated appointment on 10-14 days.
- Together with deworming, external parasites (fleas, ticks, etc.) are destroyed.
- Mandatory provision of funds 10 days before vaccination, before mating.
- Do not give medications to kittens under 3 weeks of age, sick or weakened animals.
It is recommended that the cat owner and family members carry out preventive deworming; many parasites are dangerous to humans.
Transmission to humans
Not all types of helminths are dangerous to humans. It is impossible to get infected with trematodes from a pet, but you can get infected with nematodes if hygiene rules are not followed.
For example, if you don’t wash your hands after interacting with a cat or cleaning its litter box.
An animal infected with cestodes is safe for the owner, but infection is possible through an intermediate carrier, for example, fleas.
Read more in the article about whether you can get worms from a cat.
Folk remedies and prevention
Traditional remedies for deworming in cats have side effects, but folk remedies are not welcomed by veterinarians. This is explained by the lack of evidence of the therapeutic effect and increased activity of parasites. As a result, worms begin to migrate throughout the body, creating discomfort and increased trauma to internal organs.
Prevention at home consists of giving anthelmintic drugs to adults once every 3-4 months, with mandatory flea treatment. In cats under one year of age, the frequency of drug administration is associated with vaccination. Your veterinarian will tell you what to give cats for worms! Feeding raw meat and fish is not prohibited, but with this type of feeding, worm prevention is mandatory.
